Digital fashion

Three ideas for digital fashion:

Unlimited Edition

The issuance of limited editions is an established method to create scarcity for luxury goods. This design project challenges the logic of scarcity: based on a defined design language, it can be produced in limitless numbers while making each single product unique.

A fractal algorithm, creating a different output every time, produces high-resolution digital images which are printed on fabric. The design language combines classical scarf motifs known from Hermès and others – intertwined laces, chains, flowers – with a considered dose of 70´s psychedelic retro-aesthetics.

Find the project at http://www.penccil.com/mmuseum.php?show=11224

Silk Automata

Handmade Mudmee silk is part of the cultural heritage of Thailand and Laos with a tradition reaching back 2500 years. Its characteristic look results from its method of making: Patterns are being tied on silk yarns with hay, straw or banana ropes so that the untied parts will absorb the natural dye. The process of hand-weaving according to patterns inherited since generations gives these fabrics its intrinsic value.

However, there are only a few villages in northeastern Thailand left where this traditional handicraft is still practiced. Most silk is now manufactured by weaving machines which take digitally defined patterns as input. The result is a digital industrial product whose patterns camouflage itself as handmade. As it can be produced fast and in large numbers, it contributes to erode the traditional craft of the remaining traditional silk weavers.

This design proposes a more adequate connection between this contemporary method of making and its appearance. Instead of imitating traditional patterns, it takes cellular automata to define patterns, reflecting on the already digital method of making and thereby establishing a unique appearance for industrial silk. Snapshots of the cellular automata process are used as input for weaving machines to produce unlimited variations.

Find the pattern generator at http://mgstrategy.com/mudmee.html
Zoom in and out with your mousewheel or trackpad, reload the page to get different patterns.

Catwalk combat

In street fashion, ways of walking, gestures and postures are as much part of fashion as the outfit. As a display of a social identity, movement communicates stance and attitude.

The movement of traditional fashion is the cat-walk, shown by fashion models on runways. The stage for street fashion is the street. This project lets you switch between runway movement and street movement in the style of a computer game.

Use the arrow buttons on your keyboard to change the cat-walk into street combat mode:
http://mariogagliardi.com/fashion/f1.html. For this fashion show you will need a webkit browser (Safari or Chrome).